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Animerican14's Anime
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Outbreak Company (TV) | Very good | With no fantastic expectations going into this work, originally written by the same guy that did Scrapped, I came out rather surprised and pleased during much of its 12 episodes. It was definitely an otaku comedy with harem aspects, which served up its own conventional if banal fun-- like a beach episode where characters know it's a beach episode, a tourist-in-Wacky-Japan episode involving the hal-elf maid Myucel, or a make-an-otaku-targeted-movie episode. There are a couple other more great standalone but less conventional episodes, like a soccer match episode between the elves and dwarves or one where Princess Petralka was educated on being a Hikikomori for a day. (I have a feeling that latter episode's message isn't so unlike what "Welcome to the NHK" may tell.) However, it also ended up being a somewhat insightful and entertaining commentary on 'Cool Japan' and cultural imperialism as enforced through otaku culture, particularly the first four episodes and the last two. (Episode 11 is a highlight.) It helps that the production values remain solid enough overall, and the cast of characters consistently prove themselves entertaining if cute and pandering. I hope to be there when a second season ends up happening. |
Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! (TV) | Good | What would Shinesmen look like if it was a full-cour series (not just an OVA) and a mahou shoujo/sentai parody involving magical high school boys? Well, you might get something like this! Though there's not particularly great depth to the personalities of these characters, t's a fun and very self-aware little show that pits two groups of high school boys against each other through what are largely zany monster-of-the-week battles-- one group being the Earth Defense Club, brought together by a pink alien Wombat as "Battle Lovers", and the other group being the "evil" Student Council (of course!), brought together by a green hedgehog alien named Zundar. This manages to have a really great 'twist' finale that ties together everything up pretty nicely. |
Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (movie) | Very good | What an unexpected treat. Was thinking it'd be awfully hard-edge and "cool" but emotionally cold film, coming into this Sci-Fi "Psychosexual Thriller." While definitely hard-edge, it was more appropriate than not for the setting, and Balot and Oeufcocque were pretty good characters within the sixty minute time frame. Also, props for a cathartic arrangement of Newton's "Amazing Grace" in the end credits.... can't wait for the rest of this trilogy. |
Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil (TV) | Decent | What a.... show? It was definitely interesting, in a rough, chaotic, and kinda stupid way. The virtual slideshow that was episode 11 aside, it had some appealing production values courtesy of Studio Arms, as demonstrated by some cool action set-pieces and distinctive (though sillily-designed) character designs by Umetsu. The familiars were definitely highlights, even if the Frog familiar (voiced amusingly by Norio Wakamoto) became too creepy and perverted at times, and someof the story concepts were sort of neat, like a Lw & Order show about wizards. Still, there was too little logic going on in many of the show's proceedings, making it too hard to treat its court system (as canonically biased against wizards as it is) with any seriousness or hold personal investment in some of its characters. Also, there were some mysteries that really weren't handled well or satisfactorily resolved, like how there's the implication that a supporting character was a demon/Satan but little was done with it. |
Samurai Flamenco (TV) | Very good | What a show. What a show! This might be the most deconstruction-y deconstruction in all deconstruction this side of 2013. Just when you think it'll be a semi-realistic satire about real-life vigilantes a la "Kick-Ass," then something happens (Guillotine Gorilla!) that lets it suddenly become some satire on super sentai shows. But it doesn't settle down and become too comfortable with some numbing monster-of-the-week format-- before long, enemies progressively escalate in size and scope, literally and figuratively, while taking the super sentai trappings farther and farther. And after encounters with the likes of politicians and aliens, we suddenly get a 3-episode plot that brings to mind The Dark Knight and its duality b/w Batman & The Joker! One might think that such a show would become an utter trainwreck, but luckily for us, it is just a train that employs some MULTI-TRACK DRIFTIN. Basically, it's a show that never crashes off the rails because a)the writers had a direction(s) in mind for it after all & b)there are some great and entertaining characters, like Masayoshi, his police officer-buddy Goto, and Samurai Flamenco's more brutal female counterpart, Mari (or Flamenco Girl). Too bad there's an awful lot of QUALITY in the anime's art & animation, though, at least in the broadcast run. |
Queen's Blade 2: The Evil Eye (TV) | Good | This was definitely a more valuable viewing experience than I could've imagined, coming into the second season that I thought would be roughly be the same exact cheesecake experience as the first. The characters and the story became much more developed-- enough so to actually get attached to and invested in a few of them! By comparison, whatever fan-service there was felt more arbitrary than not and whatever nudity there was was noticed much less. |
No Game, No Life (TV) | Very good | This was definitely a light novel show! Though a discernibly clever one, with oftentimes logical and fun mechanics. Sora and Shiro are the (NEET) protagonists, gamers collectively known as "Blank." At the series' start they're challenged to a game by the "God" of the fantasyland "Disboard," come to lose even though they're supposed to be the Best Gamers Ever, and then are teleported to Disboard to put their 1337 gamer skillz to the test and show how awesome they are in a world where all conflicts are settled by games rather than warfare or open human conflict. (Goodness this sounds more wish-fulfillment-y than I thought before writing!) They're joined by a colorful cadre of supporting characters like Steph (the sweet but dispossessed Princess of the Elkia Kingdom; has big boobs; butt of most jokes), Jibril (youngest of the ancient Old-Deus-created-warrior race known as the Flugel; has bigger boobs; warms up to "Imanity"), and-- somewhat tangentially-- the Kurami/Fiel pair (a human/elf 'team,' the latter of whom might have the biggest boobs!). Yes, it has its fair share of fan service and crudeness with what's essentially an expanding harem-setup, but the characters are lightly endearing and the service is kind of funny. Perhaps the biggest stars here, though, are the hyper-competency of "Blank" and the interesting games its put to use in, which makes "Nogenora" a very clever (if labyrinthine in all its logic and hyper competency) anime that is very fun to watch. The vibrant Madhouse production, with all its colors and shading that might clash and hurt people's eyes a bit, helps accentuate this as well. Looking forward to Season 2-- just hope I'll be able to follow along with the show quicker! |
Aldnoah.Zero (TV) | Good | This was a series directed well by Ei Aoki (Fate/Zero, Garden of sinners) and originally conceived by Uobuchi. It should be a winning combination, right? Well, it certainly could've been more of one had Urobuchi scripted beyond the first three episodes. The technical merits are pretty impeccable-- the character designs are distinctive, artistry and animation are consistently good, the CG mechas and the battles they fight are creatively conceived and choreographed, and the OP/ED/overall OST (brought to you by the same guy who did Kill La Kill's OST) is pretty great. The three primary characters generally start from a good place, too-- the cool and collected Inaho, the well-meaning if naive Princess of Mars (Asseylum), and the emotional Slaine, a Terran in Mars' employ. However, as the series goes along, the lack of Urobuchi or a similarly-qualified writer seems to get more apparent. Slaine continues to be compelling throughout, but Inaho never develops as much of an actual and compelling character, unless you call an inhuman hyper-competency that only seems to increase compelling. This 1st cour of the series had a pretty crazy ending, though, definitely creating some hype for the ensuing season. |
Time of Eve (ONA) | Excellent | This was a pretty but too short series that makes me empathize more with android characters than those in most anything else that I have seen in visual media. Provocative and charming, it beautifully dramatizes relationships between humans and androids (or even androids and androids) in a future in which robots appear to acquire and develop a "soul" of their own. It would be great to see a second season come out of this property. |
Dusk maiden of Amnesia (TV) | Very good | This series had some alright-to-good comedy at the start, but then it became a vessel for some surprisingly great drama and suspense entering into the second half of the series. Top this off with a truly superb visual direction (discounting the "okay" character designs), and this was a certainly memorable series for 2012. A bit of a mixed feeling on the ending-- some may feel it's a "cop-out"-- but there's still plenty of inherent value in the emotional finale, as long as you interpret it in a certain light. |
Level E (TV) | Very good | This series from the same creator of Yu Yu Hakusho & Hunter X Hunter is a hilarious collection of science fiction-y vignettes involving a Master Troll of a prince aptly called Prince Baka. As loosely tied as the individual arcs may be, the majority of them are very entertaining and unique-- where else would one find an anime that involved a mermaid, super sentai and RPG parodies, and a somewhat poignant tale of a transgendered girl? To my surprise, as the show's last arc proves, there is a greater (if fairly simple) point to all the wacky events that have occurred since Baka has landed on Earth, paving the way for an actual conclusion of sorts. I imagine the dub starring Vic Mignogna will be supremely entertaining as well. |
Inou Battle Within Everyday Life (TV) | Very good | This is Studio Trigger's first work post-Kill La Kill, a light-novel adaptation of a work also known as "When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace." By such a title, and by the premise of a five kids in a high school literature club (one of whom is actually a visiting elementary school girl) randomly get super powers, one might indeed expect a lot of showmanship of super-powers for this show. However, that's not really what this show is about. Even from the start, Inou Battle is pretty carefree about them having these powers at all. For one, the most 'chuunibyou' and self-deluded of the Literature Club's students, Jurai Andou, has the most apparently useless power, the ability to emit a black flame he dramatically calls "Dark and Dark." And then, despite all the other club's kids having pretty awesome powers-- child-hood friend Hatoko with her elemental powers, elementary schooler Chifuyu with her powers of creation, 'main girl' Tomoyo and her time-manipulation, refined and big-bosomed Sayumi and her 'power of origin-- they really don't have any reason to practice them outside an imagined practice arena, so life goes on more or less like it has already for them. That is rather key here-- 'life goes on more or less like it has already for them." ***There are indeed battles that occur in their everyday life, but they need not be the supernatural; there's enough conflict between people and their ideas to be had!*** Not that there aren't some plot-development related to these powers-- several among many other power-users become somewhat involved, and there's talk of an "Faery War" that seems to just set-up beetles between the power-users for the sake of amusement-- but more than anything, the anime's concerned with the club member's intrinsic qualities and relationships between them-- primarily Ju-kun and his relations with his "harem." This results in some great highlights and ideas, like its delving into "chuunibyou" and Hatoko's related breakdown/rant on not understanding Jurai because of that (episode 7!), but there isn't a whole lot of proper follow-through. The girls establish themselves as clear an distinct characters-- who are easy to relate to in some ways, like Tomoyo's yearning to write or Sayumi's perfectionism-- but they're mostly developed in relation to Jurai, which is a bit of a shame. It makes for a bit of an uneven but overall fun show, one that has its hand in a lot of places but may not really be the best at any one thing. Maybe it can really be thought of an anthology of battles that do indeed occur in everyday life-- but one that covers battles and conflicts between characters and ordinary circumstances, others, and ideas, not 'merely' the supernatural! |
Kill la Kill (TV) | Excellent | This is probably the best of the two-cour shows to finish out in Winter 2014. What a wild and immensely fun ride it's been, and all thanks to Studio Trigger! Off the bat we see a very distinct aesthetic that brings to mind Gurren Lagann and bits of Panty and Stocking (particularly in the animation department, where movement is just as much implied as it is actually done). This is understandable, since it's head creators were heavily involved with those two shows at Gainax. The epic and loud story and characters fondly evoke those found in Gurren Lagann, though to a personally more memorable degree. (KLK is probably home to my first one-true-pairing, or OTP, that might as well be canon at this point: Mako and a certain big guy whose name starts with G....) It's also quite cool that the drama itself works on a fairly deep level, making some meaningful statements (feminist or otherwise) through a rejection of being enslaved by clothing and by extension societal/marriage norm. (To amusingly great effect, this translates into our main characters duking it out in skimpy clothes and the existence of a guerilla group called "Nudist Beach.") And of course, the music deserves some mention-- it's suitably on-note with all the action and drama, making for some very strong compositions and pretty rad OPs/EDs. |
Welcome to the NHK (TV) | Excellent | This is a truly meaningful, if not super-wonderful show that speaks to me in a way not unlike Watamote. In fact, as it focuses on a college-age (& college drop-out) NEET with some severe social anxiety and his concerns about his future, it might speak to me even more! Sure, there's comedy here in his initial situation, as well as the situations he gets himself into with his ero-game creator-wannabe and the girl who wants to 'save' him (among others). But it's definitely not an otaku-soothing, light-hearted 'romp'-- far from it! The characters, most of whom are college-age-or-older young adults, are carefully written and end up feeling very real and sympathetic. While the animation might not do anything noteworthy, its musical score really helps to accentuate the show's content, especially the OP and both EDs (themes which you really ought to read the English subtitles for!). It's rare for me to consume entertainment that makes me reconsider just how meaningful my current anime-and-game-obsessed life really is, but that's what Welcome to the NHK does. And I strongly commend it for that-- for its provision of such valuable medicine-- and the altogether great execution of it through its characters and story. |
WATAMOTE (TV) | Very good | This is a show that has at times been both hilarious and melancholic during its run-- an odd sort of combination that I wouldn't have dreamt of seeing in anything except black humor. (I'm not sure if 'black humor' is a really apt term for this show, though.) The music is largely appropriate, with changing EDs and an at-times-ear-stinging rock opening, and there are a lot of neat and occasionally obscure otaku references intwined with some of the art and animation. From a personal standpoint, I found watching this quite therapeutic, and even helpful in recalling my own social anxiety and behavior: Having been a big introvert myself, I've felt sympathy and even some compassion as Tomoko tries, and almost always fails, to make her 'high school debut' through these twelve episodes. Mileage will definitely vary, as some of it proves awfully hard and sad to watch, and there is no steady rate of progress in Tomoko's development. By the end, she appears to finally have made some semblance of headway in getting a little bit outside of her shell-- though certainly not enough so to discount more wacky Watamote material. :) |
Yuki Yuna Is a Hero (TV) | Excellent | This is a magical girl (mahou shoujo) series that aired in the Fall Season of 2014, but only had the (great pleasure!) of seeing within the first 2-3 weeks of January. If one were to sum up YukiYuna-- hashtag #yuyuyu-- it could be as "What you'd get if Madoka Magica had a lot more slice-of-life elements leading into it's drama, as actually meaningful character-building pieces, and had an even more life-affirming ending." Really, it seems to have borrowed a lot from Madoka Magica, especially in the successive drama of the last few episodes, down to one of Biggest Truths of This World being revealed in Episode 10 (kinda like Homura's flashback episode in Madoka!). But if it must learn and even borrow to tell its story, it's awesome that it does so from the very best in its genre. It's also nice, perhaps more so in retrospect, that it goes out of its way to really establish the girls as friends. The relationships between the girls-- the titular and genki girl, Yuki Yuna; her best friend and wheelchair-bound paraplegic, Tougou; the Sempai-Kohai sisters, Fuu and Itsuki; and eventually the reluctant transfer student-turned-friend, Karin-- are facilitated sweetly by their middle-school's volunteer-based "Hero Club," which Fuu-sempai set up to strengthen the bond between the prospective magical girls. It is through the club's activities, and other similar slice-of-life moments that occupy most of the space between their magical girl activities, that does great job as selling them as friends. It is unfortunate that some aspects don't hold up to the qua lity of Madoka-- it's not as deliberately paced or written, nor is it as artistically driven or cinematic. Yuki Yuna also plays up its fan service angles more, an inclination encapsulated not in just a (relatively mild) beach episode but also the size and emphasis on Tougou's breasts when she's not in her uniform; they're too large for a 13-4 year old girl, I'd think. Overall, though, it's definitely a worthy series to stick with to the end. Think that it may be one of the best anime of 2014. |
Boogiepop Phantom (TV) | Excellent | This ended up becoming a much more involved and complex series than I thought as I started watching. I adored it from a very literary standpoint-- the symbolism and metaphor put into here is very noteworthy, especially in regards to the Pied Piper, and the themes that include childhood's death and transitioning into adulthood add up to some great commentary (surely a critique on Japanese society) that can sometimes be particularly poignant. The visuals are favorably distinctive, as is the whole sound design. I only kinda wish that this was able to stand even better on its own (though it seems to mostly do), looking at all the media that's out related to it. Highly recommended, and definitely worthy of one more re-watch, if not more. |
Fate/Zero (TV) | Very good | The somewhat weaker half of the two cours that comprise the Urobuchi-written prequel to Type/Moon's Fate/stay night, Fate/zero introduces viewers to the cast and circumstances of the Fourth Holy Grail War. There are boatloads of exposition here, which were surely done to be both faithful to the novel and bring some non-Type Moon fans up to speed. As one that had already avidly read the FSN novel (hadn't seen the anime adaptation, probably for the best), I'm not too sure how effective it really is, but even so, it's probably a little too talky for its own good. I also feel that a bit too much time was given to Caster and his equally crazy master-- it took away some time from other more interesting characters, and the aesthetics of his noble phantasm and the battle its used in aren't as impressive as they could've been. Maybe there is less purple pea-soup fog in the BD release? |
Choboraunyopomi Gekijō Dainimaku Ai Mai Mi: Mōsō Catastrophe (TV) | Decent | The Sequel to Ai Mai Mi. It seemed to hit some funny notes a bit better than the original series, but overall felt very much like that one anyway. Not really the best 3-5 minute comedy anime series I've seen in 2014. |
Fate/Zero (TV 2) | Excellent | The more diverse and stronger season of the greater two-cour Fate/Zero anime-- and what a season it was! After finally dispensing of a Servant that might have overstayed his welcome, the pacing ramps up to create an even more exciting, if even more emotional, story of betrayals and tragic circumstances. Character development and motivations become necessarily clearer and further developed, particularly in the case of Kiritsugu and Irisviel. Continuing from their enjoyable and scene-stealing partnership of the first season, Waver and Rider become an even stronger team, helping to give Waver a good character arc as one of the greater protagonists of Fate/Zero. In the end, not only does Fate/Zero serve as a wonderful prequel for Fate/Stay Night, it is grand piece of fiction in its own right. |
Love Live! School idol project (TV) | Very good | The first animated entry into the Love Live multimedia project (which I've never heard of before this anime FYI), this is a Sunrise-produced anime that follows a group of high school girls who become singing idols to attract new prospective students and keep their school from shutting down. Though already being a bit of an established franchise, it responsibly decides to start its story from the beginning, when the girls are finding out if they can even become a legitimate school idol group in the first place. The hyper sophomore Honoka comes up with the idea after seeing the success that actual school idol groups have enjoyed (such as "A-RISE"), and so she soon excitedly brings her two friends Kotori-chan and Umi-chan in tow. Much of the twelve-episode series follows Honoka's steady recruitment of other girls in Otonokizaka Academy to her cause and the idol performances and training regimens that entail. Through this process, the trio becomes acquainted with distinctive characters neither crushingly chained to clichés nor dictated by them. Eventually nine unique members in all form up to complete μ's (pronounced muse) , though not without having their own relational and personal struggles before and after said-formation. There's admittedly the feeling of an afterschool special to it all, including the dramatic and admittedly exciting final episodes and the season's ultimate resolution, but there's enough cheery earnestness to Love Live that makes it shine in a sea of anime with decidedly less innocent-and-good-natured outlooks. Of course it helps that the girls themselves look 'quite cute' and their songs are upbeat and catchy yet neither devoid of meaning nor depth. |
Magi - The Kingdom of Magic (TV) | Very good | Technically a second season, this is an impressive followup to the what I had already considered to be a great foundation in "The Labyrinth of Magic." It reminds me a lot of 'shonen' shows I used to follow and enjoy, but with much better pacing, more consistent excitement, and even deeper commentary (like the classism and discrimination that had been shown between magicians and magoi alike). After this, I definitely look forward to a third season of Magi. |
Lunar Legend Tsukihime (TV) | So-so | So.... that sure was an anime-- an obviously early digipaint anime with an obviously limited budget, no less. Though I haven't (yet) read the visual novel, I have read the manga, and that adaptation was much more superior. Not only did the characters prove more interesting there, its story was denser with more details & relevant plotting and conveyed more kinetic energy through its fights than the anime itself did. That being said, the romance between Shiki and Arcueid appeared to be developed more nicely than not, and the soundtrack proved to be good as well, with a memorable OP to boot (though at least one track seemed to be overused). |
Ping Pong (TV) | Masterpiece | Probably the most pleasant anime related surprise I've come across all year. Having a nearly-dosheartening unfamiliarity with Masaaki Yuasa, only being aware of his credits in The Tatami Galaxy and Kick-Heart, I came in for the radical free-form visuals, but not really anything else. I didn't appreciate them fully at first, but they definitely grew on me, thanks to how confident the show was in its aesthetics and beautifully storyboarded it all was. Little did I think I'd stay on for a story full of great humanity and depth, one that celebrated human passion and friendship rather than the conceit of simply *having* to win at everything. The heartfelt bonds between Yutaka Hoshino ("Peco") and Makoto Tsukimoto (the barely smiling "Smile") may lie at the heart of this story-- and very much deservedly so, for they tie things up so well thematically-- but Ping Pong wouldn't quite be Ping Pong without it's strong supporting cast. There's Ryuichi Kazama, for example, who might even be a deconstruction of that character that *has* to win all the time, whatever the toll on his heart may be. And then Manabu Sakuma ("Akuma"), who develops from having a nasty-eyed rivalry with Smile to becoming accepting of his own limitations and "moves on." Of course, no one can forget Peco and Smile's respective coaches, the latter of whom is the most pleasant Engrish-speaking (and perhaps kawaii?) old man you may ever see in an anime. If one can only have room for one sports anime in their life, let that anime be "Ping Pong: The Animation." |
Survival Game Club! (TV) | Very good | Primarily known (to me anyway) as Sabagebu, this is a summer 2014 anime I saw in mid-late Janaury 2015 (in tandem with my catch-up on Kokkuri-san). This was an immensely enjoyable rabid-fire gag comedy that thrives on the absurd, and perhaps because it was originally written by a woman for a shojou magazine, it lacks what might've other-wise been inclination towards 'moe' caricatures, because *boy* this small girls' high school survival club is a crazy bunch. And as if the club's original members-- the over-excited/rich/popular president Miyou, masochistic lesbian (and gou-dere?) Urara, cosplayer aficionado/otaku Goutouji, the semi-airheaded gravure model Maya, and recurring mascot Platy the yellow platypus-- don't set it apart enough, the show's ostensible main girl, Momoka, distinguishes herself as one of the most self-interested and "rotten" characters I've seen in ages! It could've gotten particularly nasty, but thankfully this show takes few breaks in not taking itself seriously, with sight gags, overactive imagination and utterly absurd humor dominating the show. The format helps alot-- though twelve episodes long, there are usually about 2-3 different vignettes per episode, so jokes or joke story lines usually don't overstay their welcome. |
From the New World (TV) | Excellent | Perhaps better known by its Japanese title of "Shin Sekai Yori", this 25 episode anime series is based on a 1000 page novel of the same name, written by Yusuke Kishi. It was probably the very first anime (or at least the first in a very long time) that my sister showed to me, and thankfully it was pretty rad. It's a show set a 1000 years into the future, in a theoretically utopian Japanese society on an Earth whose population is a tiny fraction of what it once. All 'civilized' humans in this relatively pastoral setting are psychokinetic users-- of whom Saki, Satoru, Shun, Maria, and Mamoru are our focus, in what I'd consider to be descending order of importance-- with the only 'abnormal' aspect of their environs being the existence of Monster Rat societies, whose members end up playing a key role in the events of Shin Sekai Yori (particularly Squealer and the noble Kinomaru, who are very interesting in of themselves). Eerie and suspenseful, yet intellectually engaging and what I'd consider melancholically-intoned (which is beautifully accentuated by Dvorak's New World Symphony's "Going Home," which is occasionally played over the towns speakers), it was an altogether superb series to watch. Watch your heart rate as you go through the show's second half, though! ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ EXTRA: ENDING THOUGHTS: Among the 'messages' that could be learned here, I thought there was a strong message of entrusting the future to our children with hope, not fear-- or, to perhaps put it more eloquently, nurture our children so there is HOPE, not FEAR in our future. Some of the finale's symbolism & dialogue obviously get at this, but this is a message carefully built up to through the series: particularly with these potential 'problem children' who 'require' elimination by Impure Cats, & then the appearance of a being who was only 'nurtured' to hate + kill that could only be defeated by the 'humanity' she rejected. |
Ai Mai Mi (TV) | Decent | Of all the three minute shows I've seen, this might've been the strangest I've seen yet (as of late September 2014), even stranger than Strange+. Sadly, it was also a bit louder, uglier, and even more nonsensical, yielding more than its fair share of confused laughter. There is little consistency in it, aside from the fact that it stars three girls who are in the manga club but are too distracted by their own imaginations and exaggerated circumstances to get any manga actually done. A silly decent show that probably wasn't wise to more or less marathon, really. |
(The) Garden of Sinners (movie series) | Excellent | Kara no Kyoukai is essentially a 7-part film series that totals to about 9 hours. First seen in its original, and thus predominantly non-chronological, order of release, it is indeed a difficult series to understand, at least at first. The Nasu-originated dialogue consistently sounded more dense and somewhat awkward than it probably should've been. Even so, as I came to more fully understand what was going on with each successive film, my appreciation became ever sweeter in regards to this story: one of of the quiet girl named Shiki Ryougi, who attempts to come to terms with her multi-faceted identity as she intimately gets swept up in several series of murder, along with the mild-mannered Mikiya Kokutou and sorceress/puppet-maker Touko Aozaki who investigate them. It becomes more and more involving--perhaps reaching the greatest general climax in the 5th film called "Paradox Spiral--as the viewer questions with greater interest what Shiki's exact nature is and what the deal was with those weird murders she *apparently* committed in 1995. "The themes presented here-- relating to uniqueness, identity, happiness, protecting said happiness, the sin and burden of murder (perhaps best evidenced in film 7), and Yin & Yang-- may be somewhat obfuscated, but still more or less resonated with me. The aesthetics greatly enhanced the films, as the art and animation are consistently clean and top-notch, and Yuki Kaijura's music is appropriately haunting and beautifully evocative. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Note: There is also an (effective!) 60 minute recap called Gate of Seventh Heaven and 30 minute epilogue that probably gives the fullest answer to Shiki's true nature-- an identity comprised of Shiki, the 'male' SHIKI, and the Shiki Ryogi that is representative of the primordial 'body,' 'The Void' . |
Nisemonogatari (TV) | Very good | It would be nice if this series was tighter, even though some of the extended comedy scenes that filled up time were quite funny. Some of the scenes got a little too long awkward as well, like the Sengoku bathing scenes and the infamous force toothbrushing of Karen. Still-- again, the humor worked very well most of the time, the characters were fun to watch, and both arcs came to pretty nice conclusions. |
Black Bullet (TV) | So-so | It had some pretty cool visual direction, nice music (the Attack-on-Titan-esque OP and ED), and animation. Still, this was really quite a mess of a series. There were lots of plot holes; it had pacing all over the place where things developed too fast or just wasted its time, and there wasn't what anyone would call particularly nuanced or even sensible character development, when there was any in the first place. Childhood friend with the bouncy breasts- er, Tendou Kisara-- in particular demonstrated stuff in the final episode that didn't have much buildup at all, and whatever "conclusion" her character seemed to be reached (something like fighting evil with overwhelming evil instead of "justice") was dumb. At least the main protagonist, Rentaro Satomi, was pretty likable enough, and the super-powered little girls, like Kisara Renju and Tina Sprout, were kind of fun to watch, as obviously market-driven as their designs were. |
Recently, my sister is unusual. (TV) | Decent | I think "Key" Theron Martin's review on this gives a pretty good perspective on this series. Basically, it's a show that, despite its absurd and unfunny premise, actually showed promise in some notable areas-- areas that don't even have anything to do with fanservice (which it largely lacked outside a couple episodes)-- but didn't really go all the way in them. There's some sense of merit to how the step-siblings's awkward relationship has some realism, resembling my image of how a relationship b/w sudden step-siblings would work in real life (sans a perverted ghost that tries to hook the sister with the brother). But...... eh. Many aspects really didn't go anywhere. At the very least, though, it had a funny and awesome reference to Metal Gear Solid in a post-credits scene in episode 6. |
Chaika - The Coffin Princess (TV) | Very good | How much can I judge this separately from it's sequel season, The Avenging Battle? Anyway, I though this to be ay great starting half for an overall good strong series. It works rather cleverly with the Chase-after-the-MacGuffin conceit in fantasy story-telling, setting up a story where there are actually multiple girls named "Chaika" chasing after a set of objects. Each of these girls claim with the greatest sincerity (at least initially) that they are the Real Chaika and were given the prerogative to collect the remains of their "father," the fearsome Forbidden Emperor Gaz, who was a purportedly immortal mage king killed by Eight Heroes. Naturally, we're given a "main" Chaika (or White Chaika) to get behind, whom BONES does a great job of selling. With her sweet combination of naiveté + faces + eyebrows + monosyllabic speech patterns, BONES & co. make her among the most charming protagonists in adventure shonen I have seen in quite some time. Her cohorts, Tooru and his "sister"Akari-- young and loyal mercenaries known as "Saboteurs," who are now kind of relics from the previous nations' war with Gaz -- provide for a likable crew, with Tooru being the most pragmatic and quick-witted of the trio while Akari is like a shonen-fantasy Hitagi Senjougahara. The group chemistry shines even more when a certain "girl" (dragoon) named Fredrika joins them later on. Among this group's opposition is another Chaika group ("Red Chaika") and the right-hearted Gilette Corps of the Post-War Reconstruction Agency, who also prove themselves to be generally endearing if more limited in their development. The show progresses in clear and distinct arcs, which is helpful if you want to complete the show in small chunks. Fun and cool stuff right here. |
Carnival Phantasm (OAV) | Excellent | For fans or anyone that's familiar with Type-Moon's works (primarily Fate/Stay Night and/or Tsukihime): this is for YOU. As one that consumed all of the Fate/Stay Night VN and read the Tsukihime manga before Starting this OVA collection, I thought it was an excellent way to see fun poked at characters and situations that are otherwise primarily serious. For the extended collection of inside jokes that it basically is, Carnival Phantasm is the best that I've ever seen. But, if you HAVEN'T seen anything in Type Moon: well, what are you doing thinking about this anime? The more that you know about F/SN and Tsukihime (and maybe even their spin-offs), the more that you'll get out of this show... so read up on those other Type-Moon works! |
Momo Kyun Sword (TV) | So-so | Eh, it caught my attention primarily for its Japanese folklore setting and my vague memory what the Story of Momotaro, but it didn't really do much that couldn't have been accomplished in any other time with its chasing-the-MacGuffin plot line. It was a fairly simple show, with largely simple characters, and with an animation budget whose limits became all too apparent in the last two episodes, especially in the fight between Oni king Jagiou and Momoko in episode 11. (Acting, music and writing did seem to ramp up some at least in the concluding arc.) As stupid as most of the series was, its fan service and accompanying boobage did prove entertaining sometimes, and when it entered into its ~serious~ story arc to tie up the series in the last four episodes, it definitely hit some good notes. (Onihime, Momoko's rival, really became a well-developed character for this series). |
I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying (TV) | Very good | Basically, a twelve episode series of 3 1/2 minute-shorts starring a young married couple-- a NEET(?) otaku & his pretty but fairly normal woman. In spite of what the title might suggest, it is actually a functional and stable relationship, albeit a bit of an "ordinary" one with a good combination of sweetness and relative realism. A rather heartwarming series, with a smattering of otaku references (what'd one expect for a show with an otaku husband!) and bits of slice-of-life struggles that young married couples certainly go through today. (It didn't really need that very-trap-ish otoko no ko for the otaku's brother, though.) |
Golden Time (TV) | Good | At it's heart, Golden Time is a "very good" story-- certainly a highly relatable one, in how down-to-earth it feels and how it 'gels' with my own recent college experiences, making me nostalgic for those days sooner than I wanted. Most of the characters themselves felt down to earth, relatable and even likable. (Linda & 2D-kun were among my favorites.) However, this seems to be a case where content was underserved by those working with J.C. staff. As likable as the character designs generally were, the production & animation overall felt very stiff and cheap. Thanks to the show's direction and writing, it sometimes felt like people were much too blunt with their feelings and some drama too contrived or quick-to-happen, all showcased with little artfulness. For much of the time it aired, I was never loco for Koko, or sold on her being such a great fit for Banri when compared to Banri's would-be-girlfriend Linda.... which made it all the more aggravating when Koko and Banri were the only characters to ever feature in the OP/EDs. (Surely it wasn't like this with the light novels?) And then, there's the awkwardly-executed drama involving the pre-amnesia "Ghost Banri" and his relationship with the current Banri . |
Another (TV) | Very good | Another proved to be a great horror mystery-thriller that kept me gripped over the course of the two days that I watched it. It had beautiful aesthetics, as well as a number of memorable death scenes that happened at irregular enough intervals to be morbidly interesting to watch. Sadly, there felt to be a little too much build-up in some places (especially early on in the series), all the doll imagery didn't seem to mean all too much of anything at the end, and it didn't feel like I got to know some of the characters as much as I should've. |
SoniAni: Super Sonico the Animation (TV) | Good | An unexpected surprise of the season-- for an anime that stemmed from the popularity of the titular Nitro+ mascot, it was pleasant slice-of-life fun doused with various eccentricities and somewhat tame fanservice throughout. Naturally(?), Sonico is never seen without her headphones, and no one ever questions it. Her manager always has some flame-headed demon mask on. Practically everyone is inexplicably nice to her! Many of the episodes are very distinct from each other, from zombie and mystery-spoof episodes to supporting character-centric episodes that can actually be touching! (The episode focusing on a disgruntled editor and her picking back up her dreams of authoring is a personal highlight.) A nice little show indeed. |
Attack on Titan (TV) | An intense shonen-action-thriller that became *the* mega-hit anime property of 2013. While unevenly paced and prone to being as subtle as a sledgehammer, it has atmosphere and action in spades, thanks to cool spiderman-like cinematography and one of the best and most bombastic anime OSTs of 2013. There is also plenty of drama and mystery as well involving an admittedly interesting-to-follow cast of characters alongside our 3 primary ones of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. What is the *real* identity of so-and-so? What *are* the Titans? Who is going to die next? What's in that darn basement? There are still plenty such questions up in the air after the conclusion of its 26th episode, questions whose answers will surely be answered in the inevitable episodes to come. | |
Gatchaman Crowds (TV) | Excellent | An ingenius little show that, while I may have not been mega-invested in it the first time around emotionally, proved to be wonderfully entertaining and intellectually meaningful. It's protagonist, the happy and hyper-energetic yet reliable Hajime, is essentially the anti-Batman; as she "combats" the Joker-like force of Katze and the chaos he represents, she takes measures quite different from those of the (personally beloved) Dark Knight. She is in harmony with the good natured civil servants that serve their city, thrusts her and her team's identity out into the open, and, to the very end, relies on others (like the GALAX-founder Rui) and encourages everyone to be a hero that betters the world around them. Could one call it a "deconstruction" of the superhero? I think so. Let CROWDS uplift you and take you on for a wild and relevant ride-- maybe you, too, will be able to spread your wings and no longer act as a caged bird! |
Aquatic Language (special) | Good | Also known as Mizu no Kotoba, this was an early short anime created by Yasuhiro Yoshiura, who would go on to create the excellent "Time of Eve." You can definitely tell where ToE took some of its elements from. Still, it is rather short, somewhat obtuse, and can look a bit ugly in some places (like the CG or character designs). |
(The) Comic Artist and His Assistants (TV) | Decent | Also known as Manga-san to Assistant-san, this was a Spring 2014 one-cour series, though with 10 minutes instead the usual 20 minutes of original content per episode. Coming into the series expecting a dumb ecchi comedy, and with an idea of what Carl Kimlinger's review of the anime said about it, I was pleasantly surprised to find… a somewhat-enjoyably dumb, ecchi-workplace comedy. There actually wasn't nearly as much explicit fan service as I'd have thought of-- but what might be just as much of a turn-off, if not more, was the regular sexual harassment that Aito-sensei (the manga artist) would demonstrate towards his female assistants and editor. Fortunately(?) Aito's perversion seems tilted towards the girls' undergarments more so than their bodies, though that's not to say they're ignored; Aito still comments on bust sizes and would obviously want to peek if he could. Now obviously not all are receptive to this behavior-- the busty, cheerful ditz Rinna is between tolerant and encouraging of it; editor/high school friend Mihari and chid-like Sena lash against it somewhat tsundere-like; and Ashisu, Aito's longest-standing and 'main' assistant, largely tries to ignore or have saint-like patience until push comes to shove (or hand comes to grope, more rather). But at the end of the day, they still all ultimately tolerate him for vague and possibly-romantic reasons, continuing to assist him on a pantsu-inclined manga that actually seems rather mediocre. If the show is blessed with anything, it's the energy that its characters and their actors seem to be infused with, which helped me appreciate them all the more. Well, maybe except for the editor in chief that's a legal loli for no real reason at all, but she doesn't get much screen time either. While the characters deviate very little from your first impressions of them, doing little to get outside their cliche-bubbles, they are still fun and entertaining to watch. Most impressive of all is Yoshitusugu Matsuouka's performance as the protagonist, who surely had some fun as Aito-sensei in expressing his various situational vocal pitches (like the nasally 'cute' voice he put on when trying to 'innocently' speak of his perverted intentions) and over-dramatic responses to his hardships. It also helps, again, that it did make me laugh a fair amount. I'd say this anime is one of the better 'Decent' anime in the list I have compiled here. |
My mental choices are completely interfering with my school romantic comedy (TV) | Decent | Also known as "Noucome", or the booru-friendly title of "ore_no_nounai_sentakushi_ga_gakuen_love-comedy_wo_senryoku_de_jama_shiteru," this was a pretty stupid and somewhat fun anime. An anime ostensibly about its MC being faced with random options (set forth by a deep-voiced Absolute Choice) as if he was a visual novel protagonist, the premise's stupidity eventually outdoes whatever cleverness comes with it in the execution. The choices (which are predominantly binary) and the results themselves tend to go for the cheaper laughs, though still laughs. Kanade, the MC, plays the straight man to (and often victimized by) the zaniness that surrounds him, and does his job well, making him entertaining to watch. It seems very self-aware of the many archetypes it employs-- the genki girls, tsundere girl, the imouto, the dominatrix, the loli, the Student Council President-- and put their quirky spin on them. There's how the huge breasts of Ayame, the dominatrix type, are actually silicone implants; the imouto/childhood friend of the MC tries to make all other characters her Onii-san or Onee-san; how genre-savvy the SCP is; how the loli is actually the bitter and deeper-voiced homeroom teacher, who also suffered Absolute Choice). Still, some voice performances largely hew too close to the archetypes so as to almost grate, and the aesthetics feel rather cheap, though not particularly bad at the technical level. --------------------------------------------------------------- 'Episode 11,' the OVA bundled with one of its light novels, is more stupid fun, literally placing Kanade inside the world of a favorite gal game of his and having to complete it, all the while facing the lewd randomness of Absolute Choice and having his harem's 3 main girls serve as the base for the gal game's girls. It is a bit clever, though, when Kanade realizes that the eroge's actual MC is clueless of all the girls' one-sided-love while *he himself* is such an MC in relation to his little harem IRL. |
If Her Flag Breaks (TV) | Decent | Also known as "Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara," this was a show that explored the protagonist's ability to see "flags" above other people's heads that pinpoint key crossroads in their lives-- rather comparable to "event flags," which are conditions in game design (like visual novels) that causes variables to change. With that ability of premonition, he is able to affect fate. Naturally, this leads him into a harem-like setup where he's surrounded by girls who are most defined by the archetypes they represent, from classic tsundere and tomboy to the "big sister" and "little sister characters." There's even a trap character whose gender or gender "identity" seems fairly ambiguous. Perhaps the most comparable anime to this is "Noucome," which too was a harem anime that looked at a protagonist's hand in 'guiding fate' through a format that isn't so far removed from a visual novel. While Noucome was all comedy that had much fan service and lacked a whole lot of depth or overarching story to the protagonist's ability, Kanojo ga Flag has a 'cleaner' flair to it and seems to be more seriously concerned with its main character's trouble. There even come to be interesting science fiction elements in play for the overall narrative, and developments ramp up seriously and suitably for the last few episodes, though it's all a bit confusing-- understandable, I guess, considering that it was adapted from a then-ongoing visual novel. It's too bad that the characters besides mains Souta and Nanami didn't really become or feel more real than they did at first glance, though. (Some character voices were also way too high-pitched!) |
Is the order a rabbit? (TV) | Very good | Also known as "Gochuumon wa Usagi Desuka?," or Gochiusa for short, this is a slice of life adapted from a 4-koma seinen manga (much like Kiniro Mosaic) produced By Studio White Fox, which has already had experience in the SOL genre with Super Sonico. It is a very pleasant watch and, save for occasional male gaze angles at a female figure or two that just does''t go with the faces (like Riza and Chiya), rather innocent. Since SOL anime often comes down to Cute Girls doing Cute Things, they can benefit from having distinctive quirks to set them apart from others in the genre, and such is the case with this. Gochiusa has a distinctive setting, taking place in a picturesque setting with good European vibes (Holland?) and lots of bunnies roaming around. In fact, it takes the bunny motif fairly far to humorous effect-- the show's main cafe's original owner is stuck in the form of an Angoran rabbit fluff ball, characters may don bunny-ears or clothing like a bunnies, films and books will involve bunnies, board games and puzzles will be bunny-based, even cold medicine will be bunny-branded. This is already on top of a good base of character humor as exhibited through the relationships and interactions between the five main girls, who may not be cliche'-shattering but are healthily distinctive and have their own nice quirks all the same. The 'central' three of the five are those who work at the Rabbit House Cafe-- they are Cocoa, who is the energetic new girl in town that desires lot be looked up to as a good Onee-chan by her younger peers; Chino, the middle school granddaughter of the owner-turned-bunny, is like a matured yet more precocious and shy Renge-chon; and Rize, the elder cafe part-timer who comes from a high-class background and is a big military otaku (she was even trained in CQC by her Father!) who tries to be, and sometimes is, more feminine. The other two of the five work at different places but are still around often-- there's Chiya, the sweet-natured proper lady (and classmate of Cocoa) who helps run a tea cafe but isn't shy about messing around with others; and there's Sharo, the blonde with a sempai-crush on Rize at their elite school, albeit an expensive school she only succeeded at gaining a big scholarship for with her hard work and smarts alone, so she is very self-conscientious about her relative-poverty. That most-all of all the shenanigans in this SOL take place outside of school, mostly in the Rabbit House cafe, is definitely a good change of pace from what I consider 'the norm.' I hope that there will be a second season of this! |
Oneechan ga Kita (TV) | Decent | Alo translated as "my Big Sister Arrived." A cute and appropriately brief show, with twelve 4-min episodes that plays an admittedly light-hearted, incest-romance-but-it-isn't-really angle. The sister having a cute triangle mouth much like Renge of Non non Biyori definitely helped. |
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! (TV) | Good | A very dumb-fun series that's definitely worth more than the sum of its parts; it's been a while since a series has made me chuckle or laugh as constantly as this did. And even better, I am now even more intrigued by H.P. Lovecraft's universe... |
Witch Craft Works (TV) | Very good | A very charming, quirky and super colorful modern fantasy series. Not particularly deep, with Honoka and the distinctly taller Kagari being free of a lot of development (the latter, stoic and dark-harked bishoujo more-so), but fun, especially with the 'Team Rocket' crew of Tanpopo and her Tower Witch pals involved. Thomas Zoth (@ABCBTom) put it pretty well in the conclusion to his review of Episode 12 on Fandom Post: "The first episode seemed to hint that we'd be looking at a gender-reversed otome anime, but the show never really followed up on the gender politics in any significant way. What I did get was a wonderfully inventive, charming show that always managed to be more fun and surprising than I expected. It managed a fun balance of slice of life antics and life-or-death supernatural action, switching back and forth between the two at moment's notice, destabilizing both narrative threads in hilarious and often thoughtful ways. There were no deep messages, just one of the best silly shows I've seen in a long while." |
Cowboy Bebop (TV) | A true anime classic. I watched the entirety of this series on DVD spread across 16 days, the vast majority of the episodes (including the two-parter ending) for the very first time, and it was so wonderful. I probably didn't fully realize until the very end how much the characters with al their experiences grew on me and until those last few episodes. Upon further examination of and listening to the final ED "Blue," I truly cried. Other than the main "plot" episodes like "Ballad for Fallen Angels" & "The Real Folk Blues," some notable episodes for me in particular were "Speak Like a Child," "Mushroom Samba" and "Hard Luck Woman." | |
Revolutionary Girl Utena (TV) | Masterpiece | A timeless story with a beautiful ending.... a one-of-a-kind series, for sure. So much spectacle, so much absurd humor, and yes, so much artistic and literary substance that make me sure I'll want to revisit this series again and again. |
Kids on the Slope (TV) | Excellent | A thoroughly enjoyable and emotional roller coaster through the eyes of a few Japanese teenagers living through their jazz and friendship and (jazzy friendship?) in the mid-to-late 1960s. Though some pacing issues became definitely noticeable in the last few episodes, it was still altogether sweet and wonderful, especially given the episode count Watanabe & co. had to work with. |
Gosick (TV) | Excellent | A period setting, art nouveau aesthetics and character designs under the supervision of Toshihiro Kawamoto (Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain), and a showcase of the range of Aoi Yuuki (Madoka Kaname in PMMM)…. what's *not* to love about this show by Studio BONES? Granted, much of this was noticeable from the first episodes alone, but I really thought they'd not be enough to carry the show nor would there be much to it. Was happy to be shown that I was wrong about this light novel adaptation. What might've been a hum-drum episodic mystery series with too many leaps in logic for viewers to get behind became a high-stakes character drama/pulp-adventure that spelled serious consequences for the world that Vicotrique and her 'Dr. Watson' sidekick, the kindhearted Kazuya Kujo, inhabited. (There is a reason this alternate-yet-discernibly-European backdrop was set in 1924, b/w the two World Wars after all!) It would've been really nice if the series was longer, as it definitely did feel rushed some towards the end from all that cramming in of endgame light novel material. Nevertheless, Gosick eventually culminated in one of the sweetest, most endearing anime endings I saw in recent memory when I semi-marathoned it in August 2014. Hope the novels are somehow able to find an American release once more…. |
Pocket Monsters: The Origin (special) | Good | A gloriously faithful-yet-terribly-condensed 4-part anime adaptation of the storyline of the original Pokemon Red and Blue games. It's hard to imagine someone that played and liked the gameboy games to *not* get a kick out of it; it is certainly a crowd-pleaser for older fans that don't mind nostalgia trips. The characters themselves are quite charming, and just so damn earnest and passionate in a world where nothing but a pure, candid spirit, the strength of one's Pokemon, and FRIENDSHIP are all you need to get by. Kudos to making Red the awesome Pokemon trainer/power fantasy we always wanted Ash Ketchum. I also give this major props for dedicating one of the four episodes to Mr. Fuji and the going-ons of Lavender. At the end, particularly the final scenes involving the new XY generation mega-evolutions, it may have still been an advertisement, but nonetheless an animated treat worth seeing. |
Strange+ (TV) | Good | A funny, fast, slapstick-oriented anime that works well in short bursts... making it a rather natural fit for its 5 minute-and-under timespan! Jun Fukuyama as the Detective Agency's head-- a blue-haired boy that's all too comfortable with cross dressing-- is a highlight here. |
Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! (TV 2) | So-so | A disappointing followup to the original series, Nyarko: Another Crawling Chaos. The cast of characters pretty much stayed the same with the exception of a certain older sister, but not much seemed to be added to the character dynamics . There seemed to be fewer things of interest to this Lovecraft novice, instead playing up the harem angle more than needed, and the references seemed to reference the same things as the last season (or didn't seem as inspired). There is still some shallow, dumb fun to be had here, but not close at all to making the impression the first series did. |
Knights of Sidonia (TV) | Very good | A beautifully animated and directed CG science fiction series that Netflix decided to choose as their entry waypoint into the market. Found myself to be pleasantly surprised by it-- despite the initially unsettling CG-fication of the just about everything in the show, it soon came to be a very natural fit for all the enthralling action that entailed between the human-piloted mechs and the shape-shifting, organically gooey Gauna, which are so fluidly animated and well-choreographed that it's difficult to imagine a 2d TV anime of the same budget reaching the same levels of competency. Fortunately, these high-octane sequences aren't all flash, as they're supported by a unique setting and great foundation of solid plot and character developments. The "gardes" that are piloted are thankfully given minimal "characterization" (with their being the more-functional-than-flashy tools of war one would expect them to be in a more 'realistic' science-fiction setting and all) and there aren't many overly-complicated fictional politics involved either, making it all the more easier to focus more on the generally distinctive characters and their relationships to each other-- such as the one-sided rivalry the white-haired Kunato has with MC Nagate Tanikaze, Nagate's infatuations with Shizuka Hoshijiro (and her visage), or the "third-gendered" Izana's great like for Nagate. (And who can forget Lala Hayama, the dorm mother that looks like some bear for some yet unexplained reason?) NOTE: This is only the first season of Knights of Sidonia, which first premiered overseas in Spring and I only got around to finishing in November 2014, so things may happen to affect my overall appreciation of the series. For now, though, I am very content with what we have here-- so I look forward to seeing season 2 start up next year! |
A Lull in the Sea (TV) | Excellent | "This is probably the best of the two-cour shows to finish out in Winter 2014." Oh wait, I said that about Kill La Kill! Seriously, though, this anime-original work penned by Mari Okada looks to be one of 2013/2014's best anime already. It's definitely a quite gorgeous and polished anime, with animation and artistry maintaining a sophisticated degree of consistency courtesy of P.A. Works. Music is also of phenomenal quality, with all the OPs & EDs deserving of regular listening. The setting that's established with the premise, where there are land people and sea people that largely live and remain within their respective town/village, make it very unique. Though it may appear that these more unique elements (which include the conflicts that arise between the people of the land and sea, the world seeming to reach an end, etc.) get pushed to the background by the relationship drama between the main cast, it really isn't. As the show proves to the very end of the series, these unique elements-- the sea, the sea god, the sea village and their stories-- serve as meaningful vehicles for its powerful and in-depth exploration of what Love truly is. With a conclusion providing more beauty and resolution than I thought Mari Okada would allow, Nagi no Asukara is certainly a journey worth seeing through. |
5 Centimeters Per Second (movie) | ||
Abnormal Physiology Seminar (OAV) | Not really good | |
Akira (movie) | Good | |
Aldnoah.Zero (TV 2) | Good | |
Angel's Egg (movie) | ||
Animation Runner Kuromi (OAV) | ||
Animation Runner Kuromi 2 (OAV) | ||
(The) Animatrix (OAV) | Good | |
Appleseed (movie) | ||
Appleseed: Ex Machina (movie) | ||
Armitage III (OAV) | Very good | |
Armitage III: Poly-Matrix (movie) | ||
Armitage: Dual-Matrix (movie) | Very good | |
Baccano! (TV) | ||
Bakemonogatari (TV) | Excellent | |
BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (TV) | Excellent | |
Birdy the Mighty Decode:02 (TV) | Very good | |
Birdy the Mighty: Decode (TV) | Very good | |
Black Lagoon (TV) | ||
Black Rock Shooter (OAV) | ||
Blade & Soul (TV) | Decent | |
Blood+ (TV) | Very good | |
Blood: The Last Vampire (movie) | ||
Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan (TV) | Good | |
Blue Exorcist (TV) | Good | |
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (TV) | Decent | |
Cannon Fodder (movie) | Good | |
Castle in the Sky (movie) | Excellent | |
Cat Planet Cuties (TV) | Good | |
Cat Shit One: The Animated Series (ONA) | Good | |
Cat Soup (OAV) | Good | |
Chaika - The Coffin Princess Avenging Battle (TV) | Very good | |
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (TV) | ||
Comedy (OAV) | Good | |
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie | Excellent | |
Deadman Wonderland (TV) | Decent | |
Death Note (TV) | Very good | |
Detroit Metal City (OAV) | ||
(The) Diary of Tortov Roddle (ONA) | ||
Eden of the East (TV) | ||
Elfen Lied (TV) | Very good | |
Elfen Lied (OAV) | ||
Escaflowne: The Movie | ||
Eureka Seven (TV) | Excellent | |
Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (movie) | ||
Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (movie) | ||
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (movie) | Excellent | |
Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya (TV) | Good | |
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (movie) | Good | |
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (TV) | ||
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (movie) | ||
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (US CG movie) | ||
(The) Final Flight of the Osiris (OAV) | ||
First Squad - The Moment Of Truth (OAV) | ||
Flowers of Evil (TV) | Excellent | |
Fruits Basket (TV) | Excellent | |
Fullmetal Alchemist (TV) | Excellent | |
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (TV) | Excellent | |
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa | ||
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (TV) | Masterpiece | |
(The) Garden of Words (movie) | Excellent | |
Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (TV) | Very good | |
Genshiken (TV) | ||
Ghost in the Shell (movie) | ||
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) | ||
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (TV) | Excellent | |
(The) Girl Who Leapt Through Time (movie) | ||
Gugure! Kokkuri-san (TV) | Very good | |
Gungrave (TV) | Very good | |
Gurren Lagann (TV) | ||
.hack//Legend of the Twilight (TV) | Not really good | |
.hack//SIGN (TV) | ||
Haibane Renmei (TV) | ||
Harlock: Space Pirate (movie) | Good | |
High School of the Dead (TV) | Good | |
Howl's Moving Castle (movie) | ||
INTERSTELLA 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (movie) | Very good | |
Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass | ||
Is This a Zombie? (TV) | Very good | |
Jin-Roh - The Wolf Brigade (movie) | ||
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (TV) | Very good | |
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (TV) | Excellent | |
Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens (TV) | Good | |
Kiki's Delivery Service (movie) | Excellent | |
Kinmoza! Kiniro + Mosaic (TV) | Very good | |
Kite (OAV) | Decent | |
Kite Liberator (OAV) | Decent | |
Koe de Oshigoto! (OAV) | Not really good | |
Last Exile (TV) | ||
Little Witch Academia (movie) | Very good | |
Lupin III: Crisis in Tokyo (special) | ||
Lupin III: Dead or Alive (movie) | ||
Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus (movie) | ||
Lupin III: Island of Assassins (special) | Very good | |
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (movie) | ||
Lupin III: The Columbus Files (special) | ||
Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine (TV) | Excellent | |
Macross Plus (OAV) | Excellent | |
Magi - The Labyrinth of Magic (TV) | Very good | |
Magical Witch Punie-chan (OAV) | ||
Magnetic Rose (movie) | Excellent | |
(La) Maison en Petits Cubes (movie) | Masterpiece | |
MAOYU (TV) | Good | |
MD Geist (OAV) | Bad | |
MD Geist II - Death Force (OAV) | Bad | |
(The) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (TV) | ||
Memories (movie) | ||
Millennium Actress (movie) | Masterpiece | |
Miss Monochrome (TV) | ||
Monster (TV) | Masterpiece | |
Moribito - Guardian of the Spirit (TV) | Excellent | |
Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku (OAV) | Very good | |
Muromi-san (TV) | Very good | |
Mushi-Shi (TV) | Masterpiece | |
My Little Monster (TV) | Excellent | |
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (movie) | ||
Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV) | ||
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (movie) | ||
Night on the Galactic Railroad (movie) | Excellent | |
Non Non Biyori (TV) | Very good | |
Now and Then, Here and There (TV) | Excellent | |
Occult Academy (TV) | Very good | |
Only Yesterday (movie) | ||
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (TV) | Good | |
Paprika (movie) | Excellent | |
Patlabor 2: The Movie | ||
Patlabor: The Movie | ||
Penguindrum (TV) | Masterpiece | |
Perfect Blue (movie) | ||
Pet Shop of Horrors (TV) | Good | |
(The) Place Promised in Our Early Days (movie) | ||
Pokemon 2000 - The Movie | ||
Pokemon 3 - The Movie | ||
Pokemon: The First Movie | ||
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (movie) | ||
Porco Rosso (movie) | ||
(Le) Portrait de Petite Cossette (OAV) | ||
Princess Mononoke (movie) | ||
Princess Tutu (TV) | ||
Psycho-Pass (TV) | Excellent | |
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (TV) | Masterpiece | |
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part 1: Beginnings | Masterpiece | |
Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part 2: Eternal | Masterpiece | |
Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie Part 3: Rebellion | Masterpiece | |
Pupa (TV) | Not really good | |
Queen's Blade Rebellion Premium Visual Book (OAV) | ||
Queen's Blade: Beautiful Warriors (OAV) | ||
Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin (TV) | Decent | |
RahXephon (TV) | ||
Rail Wars! (TV) | So-so | |
Read or Die (OAV) | Very good | |
Record of Lodoss War (OAV) | Very good | |
(The) Red Spectacles (live-action movie) | Good | |
Redline (movie) | Excellent | |
Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie | Excellent | |
RIN - Daughters of Mnemosyne (TV) | Very good | |
Ringing Bell (movie) | ||
Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection (OAV) | ||
Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (OAV) | Masterpiece | |
Seitokai Yakuindomo (TV) | Good | |
Serial Experiments Lain (TV) | ||
Shakugan no Shana (movie) | ||
Shaman King (TV) | Good | |
Shamanic Princess (OAV) | ||
She and Her Cat (OAV) | ||
Shinesman (OAV) | ||
Shirobako (TV) | Masterpiece | |
Short Peace (movie) | Very good | |
Silver Spoon (TV) | Excellent | |
Sin Strange Plus (TV) | Good | |
(The) Sky Crawlers (movie) | Very good | |
Spirited Away (movie) | ||
Squid Girl (TV) | Excellent | |
Starship Troopers: Invasion (movie) | Good | |
Stink Bomb (movie) | ||
Strait Jacket (OAV) | ||
Stray Dog (live-action movie) | ||
Summer Wars (movie) | Excellent | |
Superflat Monogram (movie) | ||
Sword of the Stranger (movie) | ||
Tales of Symphonia the Animation (OAV) | ||
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Legend of the Supermutants (OAV) | ||
Tiger & Bunny (TV) | Very good | |
Towanoquon (movie series) | Very good | |
Trigun (TV) | ||
Trigun: Badlands Rumble (movie) | Good | |
Trinity Blood (TV) | Good | |
Vampire Hunter D (OAV) | Decent | |
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (movie) | Very good | |
Voices of a Distant Star (OAV) | ||
When They Cry - Higurashi (TV) | Very good | |
(The) Wind Rises (movie) | Masterpiece | |
Witchblade (TV) | Very good | |
Wolf's Rain (TV) | Masterpiece | |
Wolf's Rain (OAV) | Masterpiece | |
World Conquest Zvezda Plot (TV) | Very good | |
Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files (TV) | Very good | |
Yu-Gi-Oh! (TV 2/2000) | ||
Yurikuma Arashi (TV) | Very good |


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Client Services Manager - London, Ontario
Company Name | South West CCAC |
Location | London, Canada |
Date Posted | Jan 03, 2013 |
Category | Management |
Job Type | Full-Time |
Votre lien aux soins
South West
Care Access
Centre d'acess
aux soins
du Sud-Ouest
Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) are publicly funded healthcare agencies dedicated to enhancing the health, quality of life and independence of individuals in our communities by offering a single point of access to home and community services. CCACs assist clients in making informed choices about health care options and work in partnership with clients and care providers including hospitals, community support agencies, LTC homes and others to ensure that the right care is available at the right time and place.
Client Services Manager – London, Ontario
As a member of the client services team, you will be responsible for managing daily operations to ensure that effective and efficient services are provided to clients and their families through the provision of care coordination services and long-term care home placement services.
The Manager, Client Services will lead the delivery of client driven care services by building and maintaining relationships with community/hospital stakeholders, contracted service providers, and other health systems partners. You will also lead, participate and demonstrate an understanding of quality, risk and client safety principles and practice and follow all safe practices and procedures to support a safe client and working environment.
Successful candidates will demonstrate the following:
• University Degree in Healthcare or Business Administration or combined education and experience
• Knowledge of direct care coordination models used in community health care organizations
• Good knowledge of community resources (e.g., services and programs), and roles of health care professionals
• Knowledge of challenges and issues, methods and techniques for outsourced/ contracted services and service providers
• Knowledge of tools, systems and databases used in client service delivery and management
• Practical knowledge of relevant legislation (e.g., Long-Term Care Act, Nursing Homes Act, etc.)
• Strong planning and organizing skills
• Ability to use MS Office applications (e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
For more information, visit www.hrassociates.ca/swccac or call Andrew Tang at 1-866-598-1500, extension 248. Qualified candidates are encouraged to forward a resume via email to email@example.com by January 14, 2013.
Related Jobs
- Crisis Support Workers posted 4 days ago.
- Personal Support (PS) Care Team Supervisors posted 14 days ago.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Tunnelvision and Busted Plug – Columbia, South Carolina
South Carolina | SC Picture Project | Richland County Photos | Tunnelvision and Busted Plug
Artist Blue Sky (born Warren Edward Johnson) is known in South Carolina primarily for his trompe l'oeil murals and larger-than-life sculptures. Many are located in the capital city, but others can be found as far away as Union, Florence, and Darlington (see Old Darlington Public Square). The Columbia native is an alumnus of Dreher High School and earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina. His work has appeared nationally – including in the Smithsonian – and among his many awards is South Carolina's highest civilian honor, the Order of the Palmetto, which he received in 2000.
Tunnelvision Mural by Blue Sky
Tunnelvision, probably Blue Sky's most well-known work, is adjacent to his giant hydrant sculpture and painted on the wall of the AgFirst Farm Credit Bank at Marion and Taylor Streets, a building soon to be converted into apartments. However, the public art will remain intact on the building when the building becomes living space. Unveiled in 1975, the mural gives the illusion of a tunnel heading into a sunset landscape.
Blue Sky says that the vision for this piece came to him in a dream, hence the mural's title.The 50-x-75-foot painting took Blue Sky a year to complete, for which he was paid $3,000 by the Arts Commission.
Busted Plug by Blue Sky
Busted Plug Plaza, a 40-foot-tall concrete, steel, and aluminum sculpture, is also located at the corner of Marion and Taylor Streets in downtown Columbia. The project took 14 months to complete and included the direction of an architect, a structural engineer, and a general contractor. It was unveiled in 2001 and remains the largest fire hydrant in the country.
Tunnelvision and Busted Plug Info
Address: Taylor and Marion Streets, Columbia, SC 29201
Tunnelvision and Busted Plug Map
Tunnelvision and Busted Plug Add Info and More Photos
The purpose of the South Carolina Picture Project is to celebrate the beauty of the Palmetto State and create a permanent digital repository for our cultural landmarks and natural landscapes. We invite you to add additional pictures (paintings, photos, etc) of Tunnelvision and Busted Plug, and we also invite you to add info, history, stories, and travel tips. Together, we hope to build one of the best and most loved SC resources in the world!
If You Don't Have a Facebook Account, Please Comment Below
You may not use them in any form without written consent.
SCIWAY does not provide contact information for photographers.


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While you were sleeping. Well, assuming you go to sleep at like 7PM:
- Hong-Chih Kuo has the yips.
- Rick Ankiel was sent down. Oh wait, that was in 2001. In other news, at this time in 2001 I was young, childless and had some money, and was on a nice vacation in Europe with my wife, flying here and there with no security hassles and thinking that the biggest issue of the day was the AOL-Time Warner merger.
- Scott Podsednik was released. Which was easy for the Jays because of his non-guaranteed contract. Which was different from the guaranteed one he passed up from the Dodgers over the winter for reasons that to this day remain unclear.
- Ryan Klesko pitched BP for the Braves. After last night's game people are wondering if he's willing to join the bullpen.
- Is it time for Edinson Volquez to visit lovely Louisville? I'm visiting Louisville in June. Maybe we can meet up for a hot brown!
- Stephen Strasburg is going to throw from a mound.
- Maybe Strasburg's comeback would be accelerated if he had stem cells injected into him like Bartolo Colon did.
- Robinson Cano got doinked on the head.
- Grady Sizemore's knee is OK.
- Not so, Kendrys Morales' ankle.
- Are Phillies fans going soft?
- Bryan Stow may be moved closer to home.
I wish "HBT Huevos Rancheros" made sense as a wrapup title. I like those way better.
- Mr. Jason "El Bravo" Heyward - May 12, 2011 at 9:52 AM
This post makes me hungry and these pretzels are making me thirsty.
- heyblueyoustink - May 12, 2011 at 10:11 AM
- yankeesfanlen - May 12, 2011 at 10:18 AM
Evidently not Seinfeld knowledegable?
- heyblueyoustink - May 12, 2011 at 10:40 AM
nah, just felt the need to boo someone
- Utley's Hair - May 12, 2011 at 11:35 AM
Blue's just an old softy.
- Jonny 5 - May 12, 2011 at 10:49 AM
I'll be shocked if someone in the NL east doesn't pick up Podsednik just to play against Philly. Halladay doesn't enjoy facing this guy.
- Utley's Hair - May 12, 2011 at 12:01 PM
Maybe this year's Phightins veteran scrap heap pickup?
- Jonny 5 - May 12, 2011 at 1:05 PM
I would like him on our bench. Dude's got serious wheels. Plus he's killed the Phills.
- Wizard - May 12, 2011 at 4:01 PM
Jonny 5,
Normally wouldn't bother to post, but now you've mentioned this in two comment strings, so…
re: Podsednik's "killed the Phills [sic?]" – he has a lifetime OPS of 701 vs Philadelphia. Don't think that qualifies as killing them. Or, as in your earlier post, he "absolutely killed the Phillies when he was with the Dodgers." No, 667 OPS vs Phillies in his six games against them as a Dodger. Also, from earlier post, Podsednik "is like just under .500 against Halladay." Again, no, .313 BA (750 OPS) versus Halladay, which is great against Halladay, but really isn't anywhere near .500.
Memory is a tricky thing. And it only takes a moment or two to check before you post (thanks, Baseball Reference!}.


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Off the Blocks goes to Paris
June 5, 2010 at 7:47 AM | Posted in Paris | 3 CommentsTags: Marcel Proust, Montaigne, Paris, Renata Tebaldi
When my wife and I took the Orient Express from Stuttgart to Paris in January, 1974 it was an adventure. I have certain distinct memories: a small glass-covered picture in the Louvre, a milky milky cafe au lait in a bistro with an owner who came over and spoke to us in English, a baguette and what we thought was cheese but was crème fraîche in our hotel room for lunch, the Arc de Triumph and painted whores in doorways.
We haven't been to Paris since which seems ridiculous given how many planes we've boarded — you'd think that, by chance, one would have been headed for the City of Light. But back then, back when we had no money and I couldn't imagine a way of making any, I didn't think that we'd be hopping back anywhere anytime soon. But back then I hadn't read Marcel Proust or Montaigne or heard the voice of Renata Tebaldi, hadn't had children, hadn't done anything really.
My computer, though relatively new, stinks and I'm not going to lug it to Paris. I hope to blog intermittently, catch as catch can.
I go as I went the first time, assuming it will be the last and so, understanding things better now, I plan to pay attention.
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Having had Altare Barolos I was eager to try his Dolcetto even though it is my least favorite Piedmontese grape. It was tight and sharp aromatically, not unusual for Dolcetto, opened up a bit but was still not giving much even though it was drinkable. Over time scents of subdued red fruit, green herbs, and a distinct vinous quality emerged. Flavors still had some square edges and a harsh, bitter herbal bite. The trickle of juicy acidity was pushed to the background by a wall of tannic astringency, which remained through a dry finish that had the greenness you sometimes find in a Cabernet. I'd drop this to two stars except for the fact it performs the way I expected for this grape.


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Category:Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Authority control |
Frederick (de: Friedrich; September 21, 1371 – September 20, 1440) was Burgrave of Nuremberg as Frederick VI and Elector of Brandenburg as Frederick I. He was a son of Burgrave Frederick V of Nuremberg and en:Elisabeth of Meissen, and was the first member of the House of Hohenzollern to rule Brandenburg.
Family and children[edit]
He married en:Elisabeth of Bavaria-Landshut (1383–13 November 1442, Ansbach), daughter of Duke Frederick of Bavaria-Landshut and en:Maddalena Visconti. Their children were:
- John "the Alchemist".
- Frederick II.
- Albrecht Achilles.
- Frederick "the Fat" (c. 1424–6 October 1463, Tangermünde).
- Elisabeth (1403–31 October 1449, Liegnitz), married:
- in Konstanz c. 1420 Duke en:Ludwig II of Liegnitz and Brieg;
- c. 1438 Duke en:Wenzel I of Teschen.
- Cäcilie (c. 1405–4 January 1449), married in Berlin 30 May 1423 Duke en:Wilhelm I of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
- Margarete (1410–27 July 1465, Landshut), married:
- in 1423 to Duke en:Albrecht V of Mecklenburg;
- in Ingolstadt 20 July 1441 to en:Louis VIII, Duke of Bavaria;
- in 1446 to en:Martin von Waldenfels.
- Magdalene (c. 1412 –27 October 1454, Scharnebeck), married in Tangermünde 3 July 1429 to Duke en:Friedrich of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
- Sofie, born and died 1417.
- Dorothea (9 February 1420–19 January 1491, Rehna), married 1432 to Duke en:Heinrich IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
This category has only the following subcategory.
Media in category "Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg"
The following 15 files are in this category, out of 15 total.


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Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback http://www.aapb.org/
Biofeedback Certification Institute of America http://www.bcia.org/
Biofeedback.ca http://biofeedback.ca/
Health Canada http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/
Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback website. Available at: http://www.aapb.org.
Biofeedback. EBSCO Natural and Alternative Treatments website. Available at: http://www.ebscohost.com/healthLibrary/. Updated August 1, 2011. Accessed December 6, 2011.
Duckro PN, Cantwell-Simmons E. A review of studies evaluating biofeedback and relaxation training in the management of pediatric headache. Headache. 1989;29:428-433.
Freedman RR, Ianni P, Wenig P. Behavioral treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon in scleroderma. J Behav Med. 1984;7:343-353.
Hermann C, Blanchard EB. Biofeedback in the treatment of headache and other childhood pain. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2002;27:143-162.
Lake AE 3rd. Behavioral and nonpharmacologic treatments of headache. Med Clin North Am. 2001;85:1055-1075.
Lande RG, Williams LB, Francis JL, Gragnani C, Morin ML. Efficacy of biofeedback for post-traumatic stress disorder. Complement Ther Med. 2010;18(6):256-259.
Moore NC. A review of EEG biofeedback treatment of anxiety disorders. Clin Electroencephalogr. 2000;31:1-6.
Morin CM, Hauri PJ, Espie CA, et al. Nonpharmacologic treatment of chronic insomnia. Sleep. 1999;22:1134-1156.
Nielson WR, Weir R. Biopsychosocial approaches to the treatment of chronic pain. Clin J Pain. 2001 Dec;17(4 Suppl):S114-S127.
Raynaud's Treatment Study Investigators. Comparison of sustained-release nifedipine and temperature biofeedback for treatment of primary Raynaud's phenomenon. Results from a randomized clinical trial with 1-year follow-up. Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:1101-1108.
Weatherall M. Biofeedback or pelvic floor muscle exercises for female genuine stress incontinence: a meta-analysis of trials identified in a systematic review. BJU Int. 1999;83:1015-1016.
What is neurofeedback? Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute website. Available at: http://www.traumacenter.org/clients/neurofeedback.php. Accessed December 6, 2011.
Wellmont LiveWell is creating a new tradition of wellness in the mountains by providing individuals with tools and encouragement to live healthier lifestyles.
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Manila Phil
Trip Start
Feb 18, 2010
Trip End
Where I stayed
Manila is HUGE, very spread out, and full of traffic. Our hostel looks like its 5 mintues from the airport but it takes us over 40 minutes to get there. It's a weird place to stay but they will store our bags for free while we travel around for the next 2 weeks. There's lots of single old white guys walking around here and the "chef" is one of them. He's a nice guy though who actually created banana raisin pancakes! Charm is the sweetest person that works here :)
One of the favorite local foods is Balut. It's a partially developed chicken fetus that is boiled in the egg and eaten like a hard boiled egg with salt and vinegar.
Also here are some pictures from our brief times in Manila....


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Our Store Features
Mimosa is one of State's Street's most unique stores. Its retail store features spiritual and metaphysical items from many different cultures and traditions.
Besides the retail front, Mimosa also has an upstairs Activity Room, where a variety of classes, workshops, and other events help create a space for like minded people to gather and share ideas, be inspired, and move their lives in a more positive, productive direction.
In addition, Mimosa has various in-house services, and participates as a vendor at local community festivals. It also maintains a resource list of spiritual and holistic practitioners in the area.
Check out our resource list, online store and our video to the left for more information.


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Student Job Descriptions
Student Job Descriptions - Advancement Services - 51750
Back to Job ListingData Entry Clerk
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This position requires the student to enter data on the VIKING software system. The student may also be required to perfrom other office functions as requested by the supervisior.
Estimated Wage: $7.95
Estimated Hours Required: 10
Student Worker
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The titles also cut to the core of her experience as a young soldier in the Israeli military. While working in the mapping department of the Israeli army, Schindler was asked to map a series of houses that were to be strategically removed--Palestinian homes that were to be bombed. When she refused to complete the exercise, she was jailed for three weeks and then excommunicated from the army for refusing to follow orders.
Schindler injects this experience into her installation, making her sirens a wake-up call in yet other ways. Yes, they tell us to rise up from our fat, consumerist, happily war-mongering and pious slumber. They also tell us to swerve free from the bleary-eyed herd, to resist that which seems so easy to follow.


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St. Francis Cathedral
- Type: Churches/Religious Sites, Sightseeing
- Time to Spend: 1 to 2 hours
Overall Rating: | (4.1) | |
Value: | (5.0) | |
Facilities: | (3.0) | |
Atmosphere: | (4.5) | |
About these ratings |
If you're an architecture buff, take some time to check out the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Located a block east of the Santa Fe Plaza, this breathtaking Romanesque cathedral stands out among the city's adobe skyline. Constructed in 1869, the cathedral's main purpose was to help bring Catholicism to the Southwest. Sitting next to the cathedral is the small adobe chapel -- all that remains of a previous church that was destroyed during the 1680 Pueblo Rebellion -- which contains the oldest representation of the Madonna in the United States. If you're planning a summer trip to Santa Fe, make sure to stop by the cathedral during June and July's annual Feast of Corpus Christi.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is open daily to the public, but visitors should check the website for a detailed schedule of religious services. Entry to the cathedral and the chapel is free, but donations are welcome.
Nearby Things To Do
Santa Fe Plaza<0.5 miles away
Palace of the Governors<0.5 miles away
New Mexico History Museum<0.5 miles away
Nearby Hotels
Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi<0.5 miles away
La Fonda on the Plaza<0.5 miles away
Inn and Spa at Loretto<0.5 miles away


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By PR Newswire | Article Rating: |
January 16, 2013 05:16 PM EST | Reads: |
544 |
PHOENIX, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Art Museum presents Order, Chaos, and the Space Between: Contemporary Latin American Art from the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, beginning February 6, 2013. This expansive exhibition features many of the most cutting-edge contemporary works produced in Latin American today and is drawn from the Halle Collection, internationally renowned as one of the most significant collections of art of this region. It includes more than 50 works from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela by artists such as Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Helio Oiticica, and Doris Salcedo, as well as many other innovative artists whose works figure prominently in today's global art scene.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130116/LA43911)
The Halles' dedication to building a compelling, impactful collection of photography, sculpture, paintings, and installations will come to life on the walls of the Museum. One of the most striking installations—the 30,000 individual black paper moths and butterflies that comprise Carlos Amorales' (Mexico) Black Cloud, will be installed by the artist and will weave its path through the Museum and lead visitors to the exhibition.
The exhibition features a wide range of artworks created after 1945 that push the limits of how the creative process itself can be conceived in expressive, conceptual, abstract, and ultimately, groundbreaking forms. The exhibition, like the Halle Collection itself, seeks to broaden the community's understanding and awareness of Latin American art. In this way, the exhibition occupies a kind of 'space between,' juxtaposed between what is familiar, our preconceived ideas of Latin American art, and the reality and future of this art.
"We are thrilled to present this visually rich exhibition to our visitors, who will gain great insight into Latin America through the dialogue created by the innovative installation. These artists are among the finest working anywhere in the world today," says James K. Ballinger, the Museum's Sybil Harrington Director. The Museum will also present a variety of educational programming, including lectures by featured artists and a rich film program.
This exhibition is co-curated by Beverly Adams, Ph.D., Curator of the Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, and Vanessa Davidson, Ph.D., the Museum's Shawn and Joe Lampe Associate Curator of Latin American Art. Drs. Adams and Davidson edited a 245-page, full-color catalogue of the exhibition, which includes essays by Robert Storr, artist, critic, and curator who currently serves as dean of the Yale University School of Art, and Dr. Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Sheppard Professor of the History of Art at New York University. It also features a conversation between Diane Halle and art advisor and gallery owner, Roland Augustine.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix Art Museum has provided access to visual arts and educational programs in Arizona for more than 50 years and is the largest art museum in the Southwestern United States. Critically acclaimed exhibitions are shown alongside the Museum's collection of more than 17,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit PhxArt.org.
SOURCE Phoenix Art Museum
Published January 16, 2013 Reads 544
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It's Friday and we are on another episode of our 38 Power Foods Blog group.
38 Power Foods blog group focuses on one ingredient each week taking inspiration from the book ; Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients from the editors of the whole living magazine. Each week we all come up with recipes, stories, articles to encourage eating nourishing food.
Who is we all ? The following wonderful people who make nourishing food and talk about it on their blogs. Do check what they have come up with this week. Also, If you are a blogger and love the idea of being part of the 38 power foods, we would love to have you join us. Contact: Mireya(at)myhealthyeatinghabits.com for details.
Jill and Margo at Saucy Cooks;
Jeanette at jeanetteshealthyliving ;
Martha at Simply Nourished Living ;
Mireya at Myhealthyeatinghabits ;
Alyce at More time at the table ;
Sarah at everything in the kitchen sink;
Casey at BookCase foodie
Bambi at adobodownunder
What can I say about this vegetable. We had a hate love relationship. I loved how cute they looked, but when I got some for cooking , thinking they were just small cabbages, I was in shock. Lets just say they shocked me with their smell.
But I was not to give up on them so easy, because they look adorable and I am such a softie when a veggie looks so adorable. I discovered that I enjoyed them best when they were oven roasted, with a touch of balsamic and some himalayan salt. Delicious! Here is a very healthy salad I love making – Brussels Sprouts and Sprouted Moong Salad
- 1/2 C sprouted moong
- 1/4 C stewing lamb pieces - precooked ( I like them lightly boiled but you can roast or stir fry as well)
- 1/2 C Brussels sprouts halved
- a dash of balsamic vinegar ( I used a Tsp.. you can use more or less)
- a pinch of Himalayan rock salt. ( use any salt. I had some so used it)
- 1/2 tsp oil + 1/2 tsp oil
- 1 tsp fresh mint chopped
- 1/4 tsp black pepper crushed
- 1/2 tsp of chopped thai green chilies
- 1/2 C of spring onions chopped
- Pre-heat oven to 400 *F
- Place the brussels sprouts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle 1/2 tsp oil and vinegar over the sprouts and gently toss to coat. Sprinkle some salt and mix it in as well.
- Roast for 20 minutes turning once. They would be done when they are nicely browned.
- In a pan, add the other 1/2 tsp oil and saute the green onions, add the precooked lamb,the pepper and cook until the onions get a shine on them and wilt just slightly.
- Now add in the brussels sprouts from the oven, and mix and add the pepper.
- Just before serving add the moong beans, fresh mint and adjust seasonings.
13 Responses to "Brussels Sprouts and sprouted Moong Salad"
What a wonderful healthy salad! I do mung sprouts but haven't tried with any meat.
Brilliant recipe and wonderful photographs.
Thank you So much CS
Truly healthy and yumm dish over there Ansh! Pass me the whole plate please
Wholesome and heallthy meal,love the addition of sprouted mung beans,refreshing with a nice crunch.
Wholesome and healthy meal,love the addition of mung beans.
I agree that roasted brussels sprouts are best! Sine discovering them I've never cooked them any other way. Love the look of your brussels sprouts with sprouted moon beans and lamb.
Minus the lamb I can make this. The jars look adorable. Where do you find such cute stuff.
Love Ash.What a kicker to add bean sprouts to Brussels sprouts-; what a duo!
the small jars with the moong sprouts look fab.
As always, you've created a gorgeous dish! The addition of mint is a fabulous idea!!!
Beautiful meal. I love the idea of lamb with the sprouts!
I agree – roasting brussels sprouts is the way to go…I like the crispy leaves the best. Love the addition of sprouted moong beans for extra nutrition.


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Think about Loose Coupling | |
PerlMonks |
Re: string? Or binary garbage?by Albannach (Prior) |
on Dec 01, 2004 at 00:49 UTC ( #411341=note: print w/ replies, xml ) | Need Help?? |
It looks like a good place to start would be Lingua::Identify, which 'knows' 26 languages so far. I imagine that the IPTC headers should be short enough that you could check them whole, as I expect a larger sample would give more confidence, but some experimenting may be in order on that point. --
In Section
Seekers of Perl Wisdom


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Draft difficult to predict after top picks
Updated: June 26, 2004, 8:58 PM ET
Scott Burnside | Special to ESPN.com
From Montreal to Minnesota, from the lofty to the lowly, it'll be business as usual at this weekend's annual NHL entry draft in Raleigh, N.C., the ultimate exercise in whistling past the labor graveyard.
With current NHL players already making plans to play abroad or run in marathons or look after the kids when the 2004-05 season is put on ice in mid-September, the draft weekend will offer starkly different images of the state of the game -- the promise of the future in the form of almost ...
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